Electrospraying a Nanoparticulate Suspension

This paper reports an investigation into electrospraying a nanosuspension containing nanoparticles sized at 5 nm and suspended in a polymer grade ethylene glycol. Hence, the processing of this nanosuspension in the stable cone-jet mode having an amorphous silica powder loading of 30 wt.% is elucidated. A comparison is made with established literature on jet break-up to identify the break-up mechanism in this investigation. The ensuing electrospray characteristics for both the polymer grade ethylene glycol and the nanosuspension are also presented. Using the data of collected droplet relics together with a volume equivalence method, the generated droplet sizes are estimated for both media and are compared with the well-known theoretical expression for calculating the droplet sizes generated for that respective jet break-up regime and medium. Finally, transmission electron microscopy of the collected deposits concludes the discussion presented in this investigation.